


The Music of the SOUL

by FlaminFaux



Series: Music of the Soul [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Music, maybe a bit of cussing, teen and up for violence, well mostly canon anyway really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-20 15:11:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16558115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlaminFaux/pseuds/FlaminFaux
Summary: A human falls into the Underground and finds a new world and new rules. Can they survive?





	1. The Ruins Part One

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is appreciated as this is my first serious attempt at writing anything.
> 
> Pace is very slow this first chapter, I apologize, but it will pick up!

And they fell.

____________________

When they awoke again, it was to a sweet scent and light. Confused, the young human stretched and shook themselves awake and sat up to find themselves in a dark room, the exception being the spot they currently sat in. Looking up, they could see a bright light from the hole they fell into, far above where they were now. They looked down at the flowers they apparently fell into and stood shakily, the feeling of the fall still in their body even through their unintentional sleep.

After a quick glance around the room they walked to a doorway that lead into another, similarly dark room save for the light that seemed to shine on a single flower. Just before the human could register what they were seeing, the flower began to speak and an all too cheery music filled the mind of the human, grating their senses, startling them into confusion as the flower, apparently named Flowey, began to explain about where they were, The Underground, before an uncomfortable pulling came from their chest to reveal a bright red cartoon heart floating in front of them, just out of arm’s reach. When they look back up to Flowey they are surprised to see that all the color has disappeared from him.

“Your SOUL starts off weak, but can be made stronger if you acquire lots of LV! What’s LV? Why, LOVE, of course!” Flowey chirped as the music began to repeat, grating and terribly loud. “You want some love, don’tcha? Down here, LOVE is shared through little white… Friendliness Pellets.” Just above Flowey’s head some white pellets were indeed spinning in place. “Move around! Try and catch them!” The human wouldn’t have needed to move anyway as they were streaking right towards them.

Immediately as they hit the music stopped and pain bloomed across the human’s entire being, deeper and stronger than any injury they’ve ever had before and it brought them to their knees. The shock of the sneak attack didn’t prevent them from seeing Flowey’s face being morphed into a horrific, malicious, and enthusiastic grin. The silence was deafening.

“You IDIOT! Who would pass up an opportunity like this?! Your SOUL is mine!”

A ring of pellets surrounds their SOUL.

“DIE!”

A laugh fills the room and the human closes their eyes, terrified, then opens them confused as a powerful and soothing warmth replaces the pain and a fireball hits and throws Flowey into the darkness with a yelp.

“What a terrible creature,” a soft voice speaks from the darkness, “torturing such a poor, innocent youth.” The creature speaking walks into the light, a tall (female?) monster resembling a goat, and looks directly at the now terrified human.

New music plays at the edge of the human’s hearing, cheerful in sound but nowhere near as loud as Flowey’s was. The question of whether or not it was Flowey’s music or their imagination briefly crossed the human’s mind, but the fear of a new, much larger, monster quickly suppressed the thought.

“Ah, do not be afraid my child,” the monster shows her hands and steps back once, “I am Toriel, caretaker of the RUINS.” The human stands now, still wary and scared of the new monster but relieved that this one seemed to mean no harm and, if their guess was right, even healed them!

The monster continued, “I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time.” Are there other humans here? A brief flash of both hope and fear passes over them but they remain silent.

“Come! I will guide you through the catacombs!” As the monster begins to walk away motioning for the human to follow, the bright red, cartoony heart, passes into the human and color is restored to their vision. They stand shakily and start walking on uncertain feet, following after the goat monster, hoping they’ve found someone friendly and that there aren’t more monsters like Flowey, and passed under the archway leading to the next room.

The next room was vastly different from the previous rooms being purple in color and mostly brickwork to the previous rooms’ cavernous and cave-like appearances. The monotone color was broken by bright red leaves between two staircases, and a bright yellow star, hovering at about chest level for the human and twinkling in a rhythmic pattern. The music had once again changed, sounding even softer than when the monster- Toriel they had remember- had appeared, but no less lovely. What sounded like piano played at the edge of their senses and they realized they weren’t quite hearing it with their ears, which confused them for a moment until more instruments came along. The soft, pleasant music set them at ease and they moved after Toriel.

First though they stopped at the star and stared at it curiously. No heat or sound came from it and it didn’t cast any shadows from the human, even as they moved their hand towards it to touch- 

a warmth filled their entire body and a strong feeling filled their Soul and they were DETERMINED.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Music for this chapter:
> 
> Your Best Friend
> 
> Fallen Down
> 
> Ruins
> 
> Feedback is most appreciated, as are any comments in general!


	2. The Ruins Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Human makes their way into and through the Ruins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I need to reassess. I think a weekly update schedule is more realistic for me, though if I finish before then I'll upload the chapter early.
> 
> Anything in parenthesis is a direct reading of the Human's thoughts, proper first person perspective.
> 
> I want to keep this in a sort of first and a half person perspective, so to speak. Perhaps there will be occasional thoughts from other characters to help fill the narrative, but I want to keep it tied to the protagonist as best as I can.

The warmth was fleeting but the Determination stayed, fueling their confidence and giving them hope. They turned and walked up the opposite staircase that Toriel used and followed her again into the next room.

This new room looked much like the last, same colors and bricks, but had some round tiles on the ground that Toriel was standing next to. As they approached Toriel began to speak, gesturing to the tiles and remarking that there were many puzzles in the underground to serve for fun and as keys. As she spoke she walked over the outermost tiles, causing the door to open. After her explanation, she proceeded into the next room.  The human hoped that the puzzles wouldn’t get too difficult. Before following, the human took a look at the words inscribed next to the door.

*Only the fearless may proceed.

*Brave ones, Foolish ones.

*Both walk not the middle road.

‘That makes sense,’ the human thought. Nodding to themselves, they followed through the door.

The next room was longer and had a puzzle as well. Switches, labeled for convenience (the human felt that defeated the point but ok), and flipping them was an easy task and seemed to make Toriel happy, which made the human happy as well.

Into the next room they followed. A lone dummy stood along the pathway and as the human walked up to it, Toriel began to explain that monsters may want to FIGHT, inciting a shiver of fear through them, but that if they stall for time Toriel would come and end the fight for them. This set the human at ease, though they still didn’t want to fight if they could avoid it.

After some encouragement from Toriel, the human gave the dummy some polite, awkward conversation. With this, they continued into the Ruins, and into another puzzle.

The human followed Toriel closely, glancing around the room and seeing signs and instructions for another puzzle, but suddenly, their path was blocked!

A strange monster with the appearance of a frog hopped into their path! The first thing the human noticed was the drain in color in front of them and the change in the music, from the soft music that echoed through the Ruins to even quieter music that seemed to come from the frog monster and just for a moment the human feels that life must be difficult for this enemy. Though scared, the human put Toriel’s teaching to the test and tried talking to the frog, complimenting it on its music. While it didn’t seem to understand, it was flattered anyway and with a ribbit, the human’s soul came into view as white pellets appeared, making the human panic and try to move with only their soul skittering to the side out of the way, almost effortlessly.

After a fearful bit of dodging, the attack ended and Toriel came into view with the meanest scowl the human could remember seeing and the frog hopped away with a glance of fear at Toriel. (She came to help, like she said!)

The color and music returned to them, just as before as Toriel lead the human to a spike covered bridge.

“This is the puzzle but…” Toriel glances somewhat nervously at the human and says, “Here, take my hand for a moment.” Without hesitation, the human reaches up and grabs her hand and lets her lead them across the bridge, each row of spikes dropping into the bridge with every step taken forward. It isn’t long before the two are safely across the bridge.

“Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now.”

As she walked to the next room, the human doubled back for a moment and moved to step onto the bridge and the spikes receded before their foot even touched. They wondered momentarily how this could work before moving along to follow Toriel.

The next room was a very long, very dim hall that stretched far enough that the human couldn’t see the other side.

“You have done excellently thus far, my child. However, I have a difficult request to ask of you.” She paused for a moment, seeming conflicted over what she was about to ask. “I would like you to walk to the end of this room by yourself,” she would say very quickly before almost disappearing into the dim hall and leaving the human in shock.

For just a moment they stand there like a statue before dashing forward to chase after her, the music around them changing with their panic, only to be surprised as she steps out from behind a pillar at the end of the room.

She spoke of this being a test to check their independence and that they should remain here for a while until she’s finished with her business. Before leaving she gives them an old, beat up flip phone.

“Be good, alright?”

And then they were alone.

They waited for what felt like a long time, even getting a call from Toriel saying that it would be a while longer and to stay put. They had hoped for another call, but the next one had what sounded like a dog stealing her phone. Perplexed, they nonetheless remained seated until their patience got the better of them.

They stepped into the next hall and saw red leaves like before, another of those frog things (although this one was still and only watched them) as well as another of those stars just the same as before.

They approached it cautiously and once again reached out with a hand, this time taking a moment to really look at it and wonder what exactly is going on to make it not cast shadows, but their hand is drawn to it all the same and they touch-

Warmth spread through their body and soul and they were **DETERMINED.**

\-------

It took a moment for them to recover from the shock of the feeling again, and like before the warmth left quickly but their Determination stayed, fueling their hope and helping them march confidently forward.

They entered into the next room, a simple hall, continuing to walk confidently and they fell into the ground.

They found themselves to be doing that quite a lot, but thankfully in every spot they fell there were those red leaves spread everywhere to break their fall without injury.

Further into the Ruins, they would find more puzzles, a talking rock that reminded them to be polite, and more monsters. Frogs, carrots, floating fairy things that always ran, big ants, and big eye monsters. With each monster the music would change, as would the volume of it if there was more than one.

They tried waiting for Toriel at first before realizing that she was probably too far away to do anything for them and they couldn’t call her either and so they gathered their courage and tried doing what they could and talked, complimented, cajoled, and flirted with the monsters, the last one being hit or miss, but was always fun to try anyway. They’d be injured a few times, and after the first they panicked for a moment before realizing it almost felt like they’d scraped themselves rather than the agony that Flowey put them through, which boosted their confidence once again.

They got good quick at dodging, though it was made easier because the monsters all seemed to attack in similar ways. Not to mention that after a couple nice words or a silly dance the monsters would lose their desire to fight, which really made the human happy. They didn’t like fighting. Each fight was jarring to their senses too, as the world would become devoid of color and the music that had almost become background noise to them would change abruptly. They didn’t like the music that they heard during the fights and tried not to listen to it.

After a rock puzzle, they found another one of those stars and a table with some old, stuck looking cheese on it with a mouse hole nearby. This time they were a bit wary of the star but just as before they were drawn to it, reached out-

A warmth spread through their aching body and soothed their entire being and they were **DETERMINED.**

They really hoped the mouse would get the cheese too.

Further in they found a ghost seeming to lay on the ground and making what sounded like a buzzing sound and as they approached they heard whispers between the buzzes, that the ghost was pretending to sleep. Extremely perplexed, the human endeavoured to be polite and waited for a moment, and when the ghost didn’t move or react they decided to simply step over carefully, which startled the ghost into moving. After stumbling back away from the now upright ghost, the color drained from the world once again and music filled their senses, but rather than the seemingly shared music of all the other monsters, this ghost had a catchy, almost jazzy music and they found themselves very nearly bouncing along to the tune.

It was pretty obvious that the ghost didn’t want to fight so the Human tried doing what they could to cheer him up and found that he responded well to silly jokes and puns! They weren’t the best with making up jokes or telling them, but they did their best to cheer up the ghost. After a few jokes and what felt like a couple burns from his tears, the ghost seemed to calm down for a moment and asked if the Human wanted to see something neat. With a nod, the ghost started crying… upside down? And started to form something on his head. With a small gasp of surprise, the human clapped when they saw the tears form a cute top-hat on the ghost, and told him it looked awesome!

“I usually come to the Ruins to be alone,” mumbled the ghost before finishing slightly louder, “but today I met someone nice.” The compliment uplifted the Human and made them feel happy before the ghost mumbled something about being in the way and disappearing.

After a wrong turn into a spider bake sale (I suppose they were monsters?) the human was feeling a lot better about their situation and feeling full on spider doughnuts. They continued on the correct path and encountered more puzzles, which they solved easily, even the odd one that just gave them the answers.

After these puzzles they came to an intersection and took the path straight ahead, passing a frog monster that merely sat there and watched the human, and found a balcony looking over a big looking city that stretched far into the darkness ahead. They looked over the city for a while, surprised at the size and also curious as to why they couldn’t see anyone walking around or doing anything. They pondered over this for a moment but, failing to come up with anything, they decided to leave after picking up a toy knife that they found on the ground (cool!).

They backtracked and stopped to look at the frog.

“Ribbit.”

Somehow… They understood something. The frog was intimidated by Toriel, as were most monsters. And that she had groceries.

This really confused the Human and they just nodded and stepped away.

 

After shaking off their confusion they decided to take the other path, walking over an oddly organized pile of red leaves, and entered the next room.

The first thing they saw was a very large, very dead looking black tree surrounded by red leaves (so this is where they came from.). Before they could take another step they heard plodding steps, as though a large someone was in a rush, and just as a large, white, robe covered monster entered their sight their phone would ring out, surprising both them and the monster (Toriel!) and she rushed to them and immediately started looking them over.

“My child! How did you get here? Are you hurt?” To her examinations she saw no damage, which surprised the Human even more than her considering they had definitely been hurt at least once, but they were happy that Toriel seemed less worried for them.

“No injuries? Impressive!” She couldn’t hide her smile for just a moment before gently scolding the human that they weren’t supposed to leave the hall, but that she shouldn’t have left them alone in the first place for the sake of a surprise, which surprised the human and made them perk up.

“Oh! Well I suppose there’s no need to hide it any longer. Follow me, my child.”

She led the way past the dead(?) tree and to a cute house, smaller than the Human expected for such a large monster. Before entering, they stopped unconsciously at another of the floating stars, this one shining even brighter than the others. It came as  a shock to their whole system once more, stronger than the others.

Warmth at the sight of the small house filled them, soothed their aches, and they were **DETERMINED.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this entire chapter listening to "Field of Hopes and Dreams" from Deltarune.
> 
> Music for this chapter:
> 
> Ruins
> 
> Enemy Approaching
> 
> Ghost Fight  
> ___________
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please give me a comment if you have anything to say or any suggestions!
> 
> I don't have a proofreader (beta? still new to all this) or anything so any mistakes are purely my own.


End file.
